Three-dimensional Angular Kinematics Research Articles

The Relationship Between Forefoot Stiffness And Angular Kinematics During The Early Stance Phase Of Running.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship between forefoot stiffness and intersegmental foot kinematics exists. We hypothesized runners with high stiffness values would exhibit decrease foot motion. METHODS: A convenience sample of 20 asymptomatic recreational runners participated in this study. At the completion of a warm-up protocol, subjects underwent a measurement of their non-weight bearing midfoot torsional stiffness using a foot torsion measurement device. Retroreflective markers were placed over select bony landmarks located on the subject’s lower legs and feet and then recorded using an 18-camera motion analysis system sampling at 240 Hz while running at their self-selected speed. Data analysis: Torsion-angle curves were fit with a one-degree polynomial and the intercepts and first term coefficients (FTC) recorded. The rearfoot and forefoot three-dimensional angular kinematics of the first third of the stance phase of the running trials were obtained for each subject. A linear regression model was used to assess the relationship between the maximum eversion and inversion rearfoot and forefoot angles and the FTC. The statistical level of significance for this study was set at the p = .05 level. RESULTS: The mean eversion and inversion FTC were -0.44 ± 0.44 and -0.08 ± 0.20 Nm/degree. The mean maximum rearfoot eversion and inversion angles were 2.0 ± 2.1 and 1 ± 2.3 degrees, respectively. The mean maximum forefoot inversion and eversion angles were 1.0 ± 2.4 and 1.0 ± 2.3 degrees, respectively. The regression model did not reveal a significant relationship (p > .05) between the eversion and inversion FTC and the kinematic variables. CONCLUSIONS: During the first third of the stance phase of running passive stiffness of the foot does not appear to be related to dynamic motion.

Compensatory strategies of body-powered prosthesis users reveal primary reliance on trunk motion and relation to skill level

BackgroundWhile body-powered prostheses are commonly used, the compensatory strategies required to operate body-powered devices are not well understood. Kinematic assessment in addition to standard clinical tests can give a comprehensive evaluation of prosthesis user function and skill. This study investigated the movement compensations of body-powered prosthesis users and determined whether a correlation is present between compensatory strategies and skill level, as measured by a standard clinical test. MethodsFive transradial body-powered prosthesis users completed two standardized upper limb tasks. A 12-camera motion capture system was used to obtain three-dimensional angular kinematics for eight degrees of freedom at the trunk, shoulder, and elbow. Range of motion was compared to a normative dataset. Pearson's correlation was used to assess the relationship between the Activities Measure for Upper Limb Amputees and range of motion for each degree of freedom. FindingsParticipants displayed a statistically significant (P < .05) increase in range of motion at the trunk for both tasks. Shoulder flexion/extension range of motion was significantly reduced (P < .05) compared to normative values, but shoulder abduction/adduction range of motion did not show a consistent difference compared to norms. Skill level was correlated with range of motion for specific degrees of freedom at the trunk, shoulder, and elbow. InterpretationBody-powered prosthesis users compensated with trunk movement and showed reduced motion for shoulder flexion/extension, with relatively normal shoulder abduction/adduction. Skill level was correlated with angular kinematic strategies, which may allow targeting of specific therapeutic interventions for reducing compensatory movements.

Short Communication: Determining the average attitude of a rigid body

Three-dimensional angular kinematics exist on the surface of a unit hypersphere, therefore the average attitude cannot always be accurately computed by averaging Cardan angles. This study derives and evaluates a method for determining average body attitude, by exploiting the singular value decomposition of the average of a set of attitude matrices. To test the method 1000 criterion attitudes were determined, and for each attitude 10 noisy attitude matrices generated. The new method and the averaging of Cardan angles extracted from the 10 noisy attitude matrices were evaluated for their ability to estimate the criterion attitude. At low attitude variance the two approaches provided equivalent results, but with increasing attitude variance levels the new procedure was superior. The method provides superior estimates of average attitude compared with averaging Cardan angles, by accounting for the geometric distribution of rigid body attitudes on the surface of a unit hypersphere.

Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the paretic lower limb according to different orthotic angles of an ankle-foot-orthosis in stroke patients

Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the paretic lower limb according to different orthotic angles of an ankle-foot-orthosis in stroke patients

The effects of speed, duration and gender on the relative three-dimensional angular kinematics of the lumbar spine and pelvis during running

INTRODUCTION and AIM Knowledge of lumbo-pelvic motion during running could help in the treatment and prevention of injury to the lumbar spine. Three dimensional angular kinematic patterns of lumbo-pelvic motion at speeds greater than 4m/s have received little attention. Research into the effect of running duration on these patterns is also scarce, and gender has not been taken into account over a wide range of speeds or in relation to time. Therefore the aim was to determine how the lumbar spinal range of motion and the three dimensional angular kinematic patterns that occur during walking and running, differ with running speed and duration, whilst taking gender into account. PATIENTS/MATERIALS and METHODS Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the lumbar spine in relation to the pelvis were recorded in nine male and nine female recreational athletes within the age bracket of 18-35 years. Markers were attached in accordance with [1]. Gait cycle parameters were calculated using markers placed on the lateral malleolus and the distal end of the second metatarsal of both ankles/toes with an additional marker on each heel. Pelvic markers were attached to both anterior superior iliac spines (ASIS) and both posterior superior iliac spines (PSIS). A rigid cluster of three markers was centred over the 12th thoracic spinous process (T12) to determine spinal orientation. A VICON 612 motion analysis system recorded marker coordinate data at 100Hz for treadmill walking speeds of 0.89 and 1.79m/s, and running speeds of 1.79, 2.68, 3.58 and 4.47m/s with no incline. Each recording epoch was 10 seconds. To assess the effect of running duration 10 seconds of data was collected every 5 minutes for 30 minutes at a velocity of 2.68m/s. Range of motion (peak to peak) and time histories (time-normalised to the gait cycle) for lumbar flexion, lateral flexion and axial rotation were ascertained and analysed with respect to the experimental factors. RESULTS The effect of speed on range of motion was highly significant for lumbar flexion, lateral flexion and axial rotation, with all angulations increasing with speed (all p<0.001). However, only axial rotation range of motion increased significantly with running duration (p<0.001). A gender difference in the trend for lateral flexion with respect to speed was detected (p<0.05) but no strong interaction with duration was evident. Females displayed higher overall ranges of motion throughout. Whilst kinematic patterns differed in amplitude, little variance in timing across speed, duration or gender was observed, with the exception of lumbar flexion between genders. DISCUSSION and CONCLUSIONS As expected [2], spinal motion increased with speed. Whilst this motion is not enough, per se, to induce acute spinal injury, a temporal co-ordination of peak angulation with peak loading may be chronically deleterious to intervertebral disc biomechanics. As tiredness sets in, this study suggests that the body compensates by increasing axial rotation of the spine, probably in an attempt to utilise upper body angular momentum to augment lower body propulsive ground reaction forces and/or swing phase kinematics. This study has also evidenced a gender difference in spinal motion, as found before [3] which may be attributed to height and limb length differences. Nonetheless, differences in lumbo-pelvic motion observed between genders are consistent enough to merit careful consideration of subjects in related future investigations, especially with regard to speed. Complementary studies are suggested to investigate the relative angular kinematics of the lumbar spine and pelvis at running speeds faster than 4.5m/s; for durations longer than 30 minutes; and in LBP populations. REFERENCES [1] Schache, A. G., Blanch, P., Rath, D., Wrigley, T., & Bennell, K. (2002). Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the lumbar spine and pelvis during running. Human Movement Science, 21, 273-293. [2] Saunders, S. W., Schache, A., Rath, D., & Hodges, P. W. (2005). Changes in the three dimensional lumbo-pelvic kinematics and trunk muscle activity with speed and mode of locomotion. Journal of Clinical Biomechanics, 20, 784-793. [3] Schache, A. G., Blanch, P., Rath, D., Wrigley, T., & Bennell, K. (2003). Differences between the sexes in the three-dimensional angular rotations of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex during treadmill running. Journal of Sports Sciences, 21, 105-118.

달리기 시 체간의 골반-척추구조변형이 동적안정성에 미치는 연구

The purposes of this study were to assess dynamic stability toward pelvis-spine column distortion during running and to compare the typical three-dimensional angular kinematics of the trunk motion; cervical, thoracic, lumbar segment spine and the pelvis from the multi-segmental spine model between exercise group and non-exercise group. Subjects were recruited as exercise healthy women on regular basis (group A, n=10) and non-exercise idiopathic scoliosis women (group B, n=10). Data was collected by using a vicon motion capture system (MX-T40, UK). The pelvis, spine segments column and lower limbs analysiaed through the 3D kinematic angular ROM pattern. There were significant differences in the time-space variables, the rotation motion of knee joint in lower limbs and the pelvis variables; obliquity in side bending, inter/outer rotation in twisting during running leg movement. There were significant differences in the spinal column that is lower-lumbar, upper-lumbar, upper-thoracic, mid-upper thoracic, mid-lower thoracic, lower thoracic and cervical spine at inclination, lateral bending and twist rotation between group A and group B (<.05, <.01 and <.001). As a results, group B had more restrictive motion than group A in the spinal column and leg movement behaved like a 'shock absorber". And the number of asymmetry index (AI) showed that group B was much lager unbalance than group A. In conclusion, non-exercise group was known to much more influence the dynamic stability of equilibrium for bilateral balance. These finding suggested that dynamic stability aimed at increasing balance of the trunk ROM must involve methods and strategies intended to reduce left/right asymmetry and the exercise injury.

The influence of different Cardan sequences on three-dimensional cycling kinematics

PurposeThree-dimensional (3-D) kinematics are widely utilized to quantify movement in cycling analyses. Three-dimensional angular kinematics are obtained using the Euler/Cardan technique, however, Cardan angles are influenced by their ordered sequence and may affect the resultant angular parameters. An XYZ sequence of rotations is currently recommended, although this technique may not always be appropriate when coronal and transverse plane angles are quantified. This study aimed to determine the influence of the six available Cardan sequences on 3-D lower extremity kinematics during cycling.MethodsKinematic information was obtained from twelve cyclists using an optoelectronic 3-D motion capture system operating at 250 Hz. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to compare the kinematic parameters obtained using the six Cardan sequences, and intraclass correlations were employed to detect the presence of crosstalk across planes.ResultsThe results show that discrete kinematic parameters in the sagittal, coronal and transverse planes were significantly greater when using the YXZ and ZXY sequences. It was also observed that these sequences were associated with the strongest correlations from the sagittal plane and also exhibited evidence of gimbal lock.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the accurate representation of 3-D kinematics during cycling should continue utilizing the XYZ sequence and avoid the use of the YXZ and ZXY sequences.

Coordination of thumb joints during opposition

Thumb opposition plays a vital role in hand function. Kinematically, thumb opposition results from composite movements from multiple joints moving in multiple directions. The purpose of this study was to examine the coordination of thumb joints during opposition tasks. A total of 15 female subjects with asymptomatic hands were studied. Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the carpometacarpal (CMC), metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and interphalangeal (IP) joints were obtained by a marker-based motion analysis system. Thumb opposition revealed coordination among joints in a specific direction (inter-joint coordination) and among different directions within a joint (intra-joint coordination). In particular, linear couplings existed between the flexion and pronation at the CMC joint, and between the flexion of the CMC joint and flexion of the MCP joint. Principal component analysis showed that only two principal components adequately represented the thumb opposition data of seven movement directions. A term functional degrees of freedom by virtue of principal component analysis was proposed to uncover the extent of movement coordination in functional tasks.

Three-dimensional angular kinematics of the lumbar spine and pelvis during running

The objectives of this study were to: (i) describe the typical three-dimensional (3D) angular kinematics of the lumbar spine and pelvis during running and; (ii) assess whether the movements of the lumbar spine and pelvis during running are coordinated. A cohort of 20 non-injured male runners who usually ran >20 km/week were voluntarily recruited. All trials were conducted on a treadmill at a running speed of 4.0 m/second. Reflective markers were placed over anatomical landmarks of the thoraco-lumbar spine and pelvis. Data were captured using a VICON motion analysis system. The lumbar spine and pelvis both displayed complex 3D angular kinematic patterns during running. High correlations were found for the comparisons of flexion-extension of the lumbar spine with anterior–posterior tilt of the pelvis ( r=−0.84) and lateral bend of the lumbar spine with obliquity of the pelvis ( r=−0.75). However, a poor correlation was found for the comparison of axial rotation of the lumbar spine with axial rotation of the pelvis ( r=0.37). A phase difference of 21% of the running cycle was evident between axial rotation of the lumbar spine and pelvis. The identified coordinated kinematic patterns of the lumbar spine and pelvis during running serve as a basis for future investigations exploring the relationship between atypical kinematic patterns and injury.

A comparison of overground and treadmill running for measuring the three-dimensional kinematics of the lumbo–pelvic–hip complex

Objective. To compare overground and treadmill running for differences in the three-dimensional angular kinematics of the lumbo–pelvic–hip complex. Design. A within-subject repeated measures design. Background. The treadmill is an attractive research instrument as speed and slope are easily controlled and the required calibration volume is reduced. However, the degree to which treadmill running simulates overground running has not been resolved in the literature to date. Methods. 10 able-bodied subjects ran overground and on a treadmill at a self-selected speed. The treadmill speed was matched to each subjects respective average overground speed. The time–distance and the three-dimensional angular kinematic data were captured using a passive marker based motion analysis system. A set of angular and temporal kinematic parameters were extracted from the data and subjected to statistical analyses. Results. Significant differences were found between overground and treadmill running for all the time–distance parameters. Despite this, the kinematics of the lumbar spine and pelvis were similar between the two running conditions, with only three parameters being significantly different. These were lumbar extension at initial contact, anterior pelvic tilt at initial contact and the first maximum anterior pelvic tilt. Hip flexion-extension parameters were also only found to display subtle differences. Of the 17 hip parameters analysed, only hip flexion at initial contact, maximum hip flexion at loading response, hip extension at toe off, maximum hip extension and hip flexion-extension range of motion were found to be significantly different. Conclusion. A high powered treadmill with a minimal belt speed fluctuation is capable of being used to obtain a representation of the typical three-dimensional kinematic pattern of the lumbo–pelvic–hip complex during running. Relevance In order for the treadmill to be accepted as a useful research and/or clinical assessment instrument, it must be demonstrated that it does not significantly alter the performance of the evaluated activity. In this respect, a treadmill with minimal intra-stride belt speed variability and similar surface stiffness to the relevant overground condition is likely to be capable of being used to obtain a representation of the typical human running action for well accommodated subjects.

Three-Dimensional Kinematics of the Throwing Arm during the Penalty Throw in Water Polo

The purpose was to compute the instantaneous contributions of anatomical rotations of the trunk, upper arm, forearm, and hand to ball speed and to quantify the three-dimensional angular kinematics of the trunk and throwing arm during water polo penalty throws. The largest contributors to predicted ball speed |(vB)'| at release were forearm extension and a counterclockwise twisting rotation of the trunk. Upper arm internal rotation contribution to |(vB)'| at release was highly variable and exhibited a significant inverse relationship with the upper arm horizontal adduction contribution to |(vB)'| at release (r = −.70). Subjects with large internal rotation contributions to |(vB)'| tended to have the upper arm in positions of less external rotation, but internally rotating at a faster rate, at release. Subjects with large upper arm horizontal adduction contributions to |(vB)'| exhibited a trend for faster rates of upper arm horizontal adduction and positions of increased forearm pronation at release. Findings suggest that a continuum of technique styles are used by water polo players to produce ball speed at release.